Cast your mind back to 2016. It was a different time. A time of rim brakes, skinny tyres and plentiful grassroots road races. Back then, you could throw a dart at a calendar any time between March and August and probably hit some road event and ‘gravel’ was still reserved for a few quirky fondos that were sort of races but-not-quite. This was the first year that TBD (then team Healthwarrior) headed up to East Burke, VT to race Rasputitsa.

In the last seven years, a lot has changed. The state of gravel, the state of road and the state of this team, but in all that time, Rasputitsa has remained a more-or-less consistent spring pilgrimage for members of TBD-MDC-Health Warrior.

Yes, the long course has ballooned to a whopping 100km(!) Yes, it now attracts former World Tour riders. And yes, the last two editions have been raced on fast, dry roads and clear, warm days (as opposed to the snowbound slugfests of previous years). But, at heart, Rasputitsa is still the quirky fondo it always was– business in the front, party in the back.

This year, TBD racers Baker and Ben returned to Vermont’s Kingdom trails (now as teammates!) to do battle with the Northeast’s premier gravel spring classic. Here’s how the day went from Ben’s perspective.

All photos by Jared Herman

My goal for this race was to place better than I did in last year’s edition in which I placed ~30th. Anything in the top 20 would have been gravy. I planned to ride within myself, conserve and generally do as little as I could. Baker and I placed ourselves as best we could at the start. After a brief introduction from the organizers and a few, moving words from Mo Wilson’s mother (East Burke was Mo’s hometown) the whistle blew and we were off.

The start panned out more or less like it did last year: A massive, downhill neutral start rolls into into a tight left hand corner where the road goes straight up. It is on this climb that the first selection of the day get made. I recall from last year that you want to be in relatively good position going into this climb to avoid spending too much energy within the first two miles. I worked my way through the field and managed to work my way into that first selection. I looked around and was thrilled to see that my boy Baker had also made the cut.

After that, the TBD fellas watched the miles tick by. I stayed tucked away in the bunch and did very very little work for the first part of the race which meant I felt good when the bigger climbs came around. I hit Cyberia (a section of jeep trail known for creating gaps) in approximately 7th wheel which was a big goal since bad positioning on that fucked me last year. We ripped along the jeep trail dodging puddles and rocks. Just as we were coming through a particularly boggy patch, Baker slipped and took a nap in the woods. He chased back on like a champ but I could tell it had taken it out of him. The following climb is where I got dropped last year but I was up at the front with Ian (Boswell) and Kyle (Murphy) and felt perfectly fine this year.

At around 30 miles, we hit the “Notorious B-I-G” climb and Ian, Kyle, Chris (Prendergast) and a junior managed to get away from me. Suddenly, I was in no man’s land between the front group and a few stragglers. I figured that the race was gone at this point but we formed a chase group, scooped up the junior (who later got dropped from the chase) and began the pursuit.

After about an hour, we caught the front three on the second single track sector of the day. I promptly slipped on a greasy log and keeled over so slowly that I was able to apologise to the rider behind me before I hit the deck. Fortunately, I managed to recover, chase back on and from there the group of 9 or so rolled turns for a little while. As a racer, I was deep into the red, but, as a fan, watching these guys up close so far into the race, I was having a blast. Only 10 miles to go.

We arrived at the last really steep pitch of the day — a cruel 500m punch at around 15-20% — and that’s where things splintered for the final time. I could already feel my legs starting to cramp when Ian put in a big effort. I furiously tried to swallow the half-masticated Clif bar in my mouth but opted to regurgitate it instead. It landed on my stem and, in a real lowlight of the race, I simply ate it once the attack was over. Fuel is fuel, right?

After that, Chris, Kyle and Boz went to the finish together. A couple of guys I didn’t know sat ahead of me, dangling just out of reach. I rode the last ~5 miles solo. I paced the final climb at what I thought would be a hard tempo and didn’t look back. I rolled in 3 mins down on the winner, in P6.

I waited for Baker who arrived a few minutes later in P21. We hugged, debriefed, grabbed our complimentary beers (bring your wrist band) and enjoyed the post-Rasputitsa vibes.

This was truly an unbelievable result for me. I conserved energy, I ate every half hour religiously and drank as much as possible. I kept waiting for a big crack but it just never came. It’s rare, but every so often you get a day that makes you rethink what your limits might be. P6 in this race was one of those days for me.

See the full gallery from Jared Herman below.

I wish this was the happy ending to a great day of bike racing but it was not. After the finish, we were saddened to learn of the unexpected passing of Richard Wanstall who was killed in a collision with a car during the race. Mine and TBD’s deepest condolences are with his family during this difficult time.